


A Little Freaked Out

by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Genre: F/M, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-10-28
Updated: 2010-10-28
Packaged: 2019-05-30 09:06:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15093584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: Josh freaks Donna out a little, but she repays him by freaking the hell out of him.





	A Little Freaked Out

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

  
Author's notes: This is a short one, but I missed the banter.  


* * *

It was a rare Sunday at home, at least so far. He’d more than likely be called into the office by noon or one, but neither dared tempt fate by voicing that out loud. Instead, they slept in late then shared the newspaper over coffee and bagels. It was pretty damn perfect; pretty damn ‘normal’, at least as normal as she thought they were ever going to be. 

Except that he’d been acting weird all morning, re-filling her coffee cup without being prompted, brushing her neck with his lips as he passed by her, giving her the front section of the newspaper first… it was weird and frankly, it was starting to freak her out.

Even now, she could feel his eyes on her as she read the editorials. She looked up at him, sitting diagonal from her at the dining room table, but he just smiled and looked back down at his section. Yeah, this was freaking her out.

“What?” she said when she couldn’t take it anymore.

He raised an eyebrow but kept his eye on the paper. “What?”

“That’s what I’m asking you. What?”

“I’m…” he shook the paper in his hands. “Reading the paper.”

She squinted her eyes at him. “You’re just reading the paper…”

“Yep,” he said with a grin before leaning over and kissing her without reason. Weird.

Something was up, but what was she supposed to do? Accuse him of being… nice? She watched as he went back to his paper, then reluctantly followed suit.

But it was only two minutes later that the hairs on her neck began to rise again. Peeking at him out of the corner of her eye, she caught him in the act. “Ah hah!” she shouted, slamming her section of the paper to the table.

He smirked at her. “Ah hah?”

“You’re staring at me!”

He shrugged. “Well, you’re a beautiful woman.”

And what in the hell was she supposed to say to that? She could think of nothing, no comeback, no accusation, nothing, so she sat there staring dumbfounded at him until, obviously amused at her confusion, he stood, picked up her coffee cup and walked into the kitchen. Weird.

“So,” he said, wandering back into the dining room a minute later with her re-filled coffee cup and another bagel for himself. He kissed her temple, handed her the cup, and sat back down. “I’m thinking we should make this official.”

She froze, the coffee cup half-way to her mouth, and looked at him for a few seconds. “Official…”

“Yeah,” he said with a confident nod. “You haven’t slept at your place in what, three months? You should just move in.”

That’s what all this fuss was about? She smiled slightly and took a drink of the coffee. “Make it official,” she repeated as she put the cup down on the table.

“Yes.”

She picked up her section of the paper and opened it back up to the editorials. “I hate to break it to you, big guy, but I gave up my apartment a month and a half ago. It’s official.” 

He rolled his eyes. “I’m serious. Move in with me.”

“I’m serious. I did,” she said, not taking her eyes off the paper.

He chuckled. “Yeah, right. You just moved in one day and I didn’t notice.”

She put the paper down again. This was getting fun. “Apparently.”

“You don’t live here,” he said dismissively.

“Yes I do.”

“Nuh huh.”

She laughed at his denial. “My lease expired March 31st. I hadn’t slept there in almost two months. I didn’t feel like wasting any more money.”

“Come on, Donna. Be serious.”

He didn’t believe her? She leaned back in her seat and looked pointedly at the plate he was eating off of. His eyes followed hers and he studied the plate before snapping his head back up to her. “No way!”

She laughed and took another drink of coffee. “You really haven’t noticed?”

“No! I…” he looked back towards the bedroom. “You’re using half the closet now.”

She nodded. “Anything else?”

“These dishes…” he trailed off before looking at her with panicked eyes. “You live here?” he shrieked.

“Indeed.”

“When did you move in?”

She shrugged slowly. “Gradually. A little at a time.”

“How did I not know?”

She shrugged and stood with her empty coffee cup and plate. “You were pretty busy getting the administration up and running.” She kissed the top of his head and took her things into the kitchen.

“Where’s your furniture?” he asked, hot on her heels.

She turned and took his dishes from him. “My bed and dresser are in the spare room; everything else went to Goodwill. It was all second hand anyway.”

“There’s a bed in the spare room?” he shrieked, walking out of the kitchen without waiting for her answer.

She followed him with a grin. Now look at who was freaking out.

“Donna!”

“Yes?” she said walking up behind him as he stood in the doorway to the spare room. 

“There’s a bed in here!”

“Indeed. Also a dresser and a television set. And the rest of my clothes.”

He looked at her wide-eyed, then walked over to the closet and opened the door. “Donna!” he shrieked, spinning around to face her.

“Yes?” she asked innocently.

“You live here!”

“Yes,” she said nodding.

“Donna!”

“Yes?”

“You moved in here without talking to me about it! Don’t you think that’s… I don’t know… something?”

She tried not to laugh, really she did. But he looked adorable. “Do you want me to move out for a few days? Then you can ask me again and I’ll pretend to be surprised.”

He stared at her like she was insane, then walked out into the living room. She found him there a minute later, looking at the new books on the bookshelf and her cd’s in the cd holder. After that, he went into the spare bathroom and looked underneath the sink. He picked up a towel that came from her apartment and studied it for a minute, then put it back down. Next he went into the kitchen, opening each cupboard and squinting his eyes in confusion. He fingered the sheets in the bedroom and the shower curtain in the main bathroom, but eventually made his way back to the spare room.

“Wasn’t…” he said to himself, looking at the corner of the room. “Wasn’t there a desk in here?”

She’d been following behind him, giving him plenty of space, so she walked the rest of the way into the room. “Yes, but you never work in here, you always work on the couch or the dining room table. I thought this room could be put to better use.”

Wide-eyed, he looked over at her.

“How you doing?” she asked in a concerned voice, even though it was really quite funny. 

He opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again and fell down to sit on the bed. 

“I’ll just…” she hooked her thumb over her shoulder. “Give you a few minutes to get used to the idea.”

She kissed the top of his head and then went back into the kitchen to put the bagels away and wash their breakfast dishes, thinking that her plan to ease Josh into the idea of cohabitation might not have been her best ever. She might have overestimated his ability to figure it out a little at a time. 

A few minutes passed before she heard his footsteps down the hall. He stopped in the entryway to the kitchen and leaned against the frame. He didn’t say anything for another few minutes, but she thought it best to wait it out. 

“When Mom comes to visit, she could stay in there” he said, looking down at the floor. “Instead of a hotel.”

She looked over and him and nodded. He looked better. Still a little shocked, but definitely better.

“And your…” he trailed off and gulped heavily while motioning to her. Yes, definitely still a little freaked out. “You know... when they come,” he said, his voice jumping an octave.

She smiled softly. “We can work our way up to that.”

He nodded and took a deep breath, then walked over to her and held her from behind, propping his chin on her shoulder and watching her do the dishes. “You ok?” she asked hesitantly.

He nodded, burying himself in her neck. “When I propose,” he mumbled against her skin. “You aren’t going to tell me we’re already married are you?” 

She shivered just a bit and felt him smile against her skin. “That one can be all you,” she said softly.

“Thank you,” leaning around and kissing her on the lips. He stood then and walked back towards the hallway, turning around just before leaving the room. “And I don’t ever want to find anything out by walking into that room and seeing that it’s been turned into a nursery. Got it?”

She smiled brightly at him and nodded. “Got it.”


End file.
